Uzhunnu Vada

Ingredients :-

urud dal - 2 cups soaked for 4-5 hours.
Rice flour - 1/4'th cup(add as needed)
Shallots sliced fine - 5
Green chillies sliced into rings - 4
Whole peppercorns - a few
Ginger chopped fine - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves torn into pieces - few
Asafotida/kayam - 1/4'th tsp
Oil - to deep fry
salt - to taste

Method :-
Grind the soaked dal to a fine paste with minimum water.
To the batter add sliced shallots,green chillies,whole peppercorns,chopped ginger and curry leaves, asofotida and salt to taste.mix well. If the better is loose add enough rice flour to make a batter that you can hold in your Palm without it flowing out.

Heat oil to deep fry. keep a bowl of ice cold water beside you - you will need to dip your hand in the water and form vadas with a wet palm to prevent it from sticking to your hand and get the typical vada shape.To form the vadas wet your hand and take a lime sized ball of batter and form a hole in the center with your thumb and slide it into the hot oil.Fry until it is cooked.Serve with chutney.

TIP:I do not have a wet grinder and do my grinding in the regular blender adding enough water to come up to the level of the dal.To make the batter thicker I add rice flour to this right before cooking -which I think makes better vada with a crispier exterior and a soft and fluffy interior.Do not add too much rice flour , just the minimum amount needed to tighten the batter.